By the 1st century AD, however, Aksum had gained control over territory previously “Kushite”.

The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea explicitly describes how ivory collected in

Kushite territory was being exported through the port of “Adulis” instead of being taken to Meroë, the capital of “Kush”.

During the 2nd and 3rd centuries the Kingdom of Aksum continued to expand their control of the southern Red Sea basin.

A caravan route to “Egypt” was established which bypassed the Nile corridor entirely…

Aksum succeeded in becoming the principal supplier of African goods to the Roman Empire, not least as a result of the transformed

Indian Ocean trading system.

Aksum was previously thought to have been founded by Semitic-speaking Sabaeans who crossed the Red Sea from South Arabia (modern Yemen) on the basis of Conti Rossini’s theories and prolific work on Ethiopian history, but most scholars now agree that it was an “indigenous” development…

Scholars like Stuart Munro-Hay point to the existence of an older D’mt or Da’amot kingdom, prior to any Sabaean migration ca. 4th or 5th c. BC, as well as to evidence of Sabaean immigrants having resided in the region for little more than a few decades.

Furthermore, Ge’ez, the ancient Semitic language of Eritrea and Ethiopia, is now known, Not to have derived fromSabaean,

and there is evidence of a Semitic speaking presence in Ethiopia and Eritrea at least as early as 2000 BC.

Note:

The Axumite አፁሚተpopulation consisted of Semitic-speaking people (collectively known as Habeshas), people of Ethiopia and Eritrea